Americas' WHO chief says hopes to continue working with U.S.

The head of the Pan American Health Organization said Tuesday that the World Health Organization-affiliated body hoped to keep working with the U.S. government, after President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to end U.S. funding to the WHO.

In recent days, Trump has ramped up his criticism of the WHO's early response to the coronavirus pandemic. PAHO Director Carissa Etienne pointed to past collaborations with the U.S. government to combat diseases like malaria and yellow fever, and noted that U.S. contributions account for about 60% of the regional health agency's budget.

"PAHO hopes that we will continue collaboration with the United States and all of our allies," Etienne said in a webcast briefing for reporters. The head of the WHO's Americas' office noted the United States was a founding member of the group and emphasized more than a century of work together.

"This mutual collaboration with the U.S. has advanced through the years and we do look forward to our future collaboration," she said. PAHO officials, meanwhile, voiced concern that the new coronavirus was spreading rapidly in the tri-border area of the Amazon between Brazil, Colombia and Peru, and threatened to infect remote indigenous communities in the rainforest.

PAHO directors urged that special measures be taken to protect vulnerable groups among the poor and indigenous populations of the Americas. They said the contagion was moving fast in densely populated Amazon border cities such as Manaus, Leticia and Iquitos, and the greatest danger was that COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, was spreading to isolated villages.